I'm a newbie on this forum… Picked a 2010 335i up in August this year, after chopping in my 2008 mapped 123d. I had the 123d for 10 months (remapped for 6) and put 15,000 miles on it over my ownership – it never really did it for me though. Although it was an incredible blend of performance and economy with a very nice spec, I could never fall in love with the diesel engine and the timing chain issues that so many owners had was always on the back of my mind. Couple of pictures of my 123d after I had traded it in and it was for sale.

I had been looking at both the 1 & 3 Series ‘35i cars on and off for around 6 months prior to August… But I had been putting it off for 2 reasons. Firstly, I assumed the insurance with me only being 21 would be colossal and secondly I couldn’t really justify having that car for my 60 mile (round trip) commute to work each day.

I was just browsing on Auto Trader one night as I usually do and found a 335i in the perfect colour, spec and at a reasonable price. I was immediately drawn to the car! So I phoned up my car insurance company, gave them the reg and they came back with an increase of just £100 over the 123! That’s with 11months of my policy remaining!! I could not believe it, a 21 year old being able to get insurance on a 335i for £1200!

The next day I phoned up BMW and got the service history and factory options list – it was always serviced at the same Sytner garage and seemed to have been serviced quite literally regardless of cost. I then phoned the dealer selling the car and again I was very impressed.

So I suppose my heart beat my head and on Thursday 23rd August I found myself travelling down to Surrey to potentially trade in my old 123d and pick this one up. Everything was as I had expected and it had clearly been very well looked after by its one owner. After having a very good look round and a good test drive on my own I was sold - we agreed a price for my 123d and also agreed a discount off the 335i for its next service (at BMW rates)

First impressions of this car back in August were absolutely fantastic! It has an incredibly torquey engine that makes a fabulous noise and a nice weighty steering feel (none of this electric rubbish). The ride was remarkably good too, as the previous owner rightfully ditched the runflats in favour of SportContact rubber. Economy was impressive too – on the way down to view the car, I set my cruise to 80mph in the 123 and the same on the way back in the 335i. My 123d returned 46mpg and this returned 35mpg – similar traffic conditions!

I've had a couple of warranty items addressed too. The left exhaust flap was rattling when the car was in its warm up mode, i.e. when the left exhaust flap was completely closed off for the first 30 seconds after starting with a cold engine. The left exhaust backbox was replaced and has solved the problem. The window was moving against the window seals which were making an annoying noise – this was solved with BMW applying their special rubber cleaner and lubricant. Apart from that I'm pretty stoked! There’s still a couple of other annoying rattles/ squeaks – seat base one is on my hit list next – anybody else have this?

The car had an oil change, brake fluid change, micro and air filter change back in September - supplied my own oil, which they forgot to use, so I got £60 worth of oil for free! Total bill £217, which isn’t half bad! My car hasn’t used a drop of oil (according to the computer) in 6k miles since then

I've had the security update installed too – but this has now meant that I can’t programme the car with NSC as I haven’t got the latest Daten files – anybody know where to get this from?

As for future upgrades, I'm undecided – but would like a BMWP exhaust, Alpine upgrade, 6FL/ 6NF/ 6NR retrofit.

In the new year I'm going to be having the wheels that are currently shadow chrome returned to their factory finish – Diamond cut/ Ferric Grey and will most likely be putting a set of SuperSports on them.

21 years old....in a 335i.....the sexy b1tches will be all over you!!!!!....make the most out of it!!!!....while you're young!....

at 18, my first car was an old Astra....with magnex exhaust and knn air filter which gave it an extra 50bhp! ( I did believe it at the time) ....I didn't have a car at uni, which affected my pulling ratio by quite a bit....

and then I got my peugeot 406....back in the game!!!!...I can't believe i banged so many girls with a car like that!....lol...

I've never seen another car with the Individual trim up for sale - it's simply gorgeous!

Quote:

Originally Posted by texasjohn

Nice motor, although I am somewhat biased as I bought a 2010 E90 335i (manual) at the end of November.

Is yours an N54 or N55?

N55 wanted it for the extra economy and from I've read so far, it seems fairly reliable. I'm not into heavy tuning either, so N55 all the way for me - may get a fairly tame remap soon...

I initially wanted a manual N55 - but they're are like gold dust! Ever since I first test drove a DCT I was sold

Quote:

Originally Posted by dazza88

Nice clean looking car and loving the dash trim is the spoiler a genuine spoiler or aftermarket as I'm after one for mine.

Aftermarket. Didnt really see the point in paying just under £200 for a genuine spoiler that was unpainted, when the SSDD Motorsport ones were getting such rave reviews. They charge £95 for it painted and it was a perfect match!

21 years old....in a 335i.....the sexy b1tches will be all over you!!!!!....make the most out of it!!!!....while you're young!....

at 18, my first car was an old Astra....with magnex exhaust and knn air filter which gave it an extra 50bhp! ( I did believe it at the time) ....I didn't have a car at uni, which affected my pulling ratio by quite a bit....

and then I got my peugeot 406....back in the game!!!!...I can't believe i banged so many girls with a car like that!....lol...

Haha!!!! Post of the day I think!

Quote:

Originally Posted by dobbo99

i remember seeing your 1series for sale, i look on his website quite a bit (geek) love the photos he takes.
i dont think id dare buy a 335i at 21 years of age!!

The photos that he takes are cracking aren't they!? I asked him for a copy of them when I collected the car

He really was a pleasure to deal with too..! I came down on my own, he chucked me the keys and said take it out for a spin when you've finished looking over it!

I think it looks nice on Space Grey. I remember seeing a 123d M Sport in Space Grey with the Chrome window trim and darkened rear glass out on the road some years back, it looked good in the flesh.

Yeah I have been toying with the idea of changing the chrome window surround. But as texasjohn said, out of all the colours it does look good on Space Grey, especially as they kind of match the face of the 313M's

The window surrounds are a ridiculous price from BMW - approaching £1k for a complete set.. So a breakers/ painting them is the only option if I were to change them

Aftermarket. Didnt really see the point in paying just under £200 for a genuine spoiler that was unpainted, when the SSDD Motorsport ones were getting such rave reviews. They charge £95 for it painted and it was a perfect match!

Thanks for the link mate! Was it easy to fit. As I'm after one for me e90.

Yep pretty easy. I paid about a tenner more to get the 3M adhesive tape applied before shipping. It's straightforward to fit, the hardest part is lining it up - I just used some masking tape to help with this

Lovely car,nice work with the contrasting greys on the diffuser,good to see something a bit different

I definately didnt want the colour coded look that the sport plus E92's get - back end just looks too plain. And I didnt want gloss black, as I wanted a bit of a contrast with the unpainted plastic - so that grey colour it was

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhilM

Hell.. £1k!! It would deffo be a paint job/breakers then. But that's all IMO anyway, if you like it keep it!

I like the idea of a spoiler on my e90, half fancy carbon, half silver. Can't make my mind up.

I was extremely tempted by the BMW Performance carbon spoiler - so tempted I even ordered one!! But chickened out as I thought it just looked too 'stuck on', a bit chavvy and too much of a fin... Saying that, I believe the E90 one is more tame